2 things that stood out in Andrey Rublev's win over Casper Ruud in the Swedish Open final

Second seed Andrey Rublev of Russia beat top seed Casper Ruud of Norway 7-6(3), 6-0 in the final of the Swedish Open in Bastad on Sunday (July 23). It was the 25-year-old Russian's second title of the year after he won the Monte Carlo Open in April.

Ruud fought well in the first set, but surrendered quite tamely in the second set to hand his opponent the victory. The 24-year-old Norwegian, who finished runner-up in the last two editions of the French Open and has a good record on clay in general, thus missed out on a chance to win a trophy close to his home.

On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out in the match.

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#1. Casper Ruud bounced back from behind to take the first set into a tie-break

Andrey Rublev started off really well and got an early break of serve to take a 4-2 lead in the first set. However, Casper Ruud then broke back to win the next three games to wrest the advantage.

The set then went into a tie-break, which saw the Russian race to a 3-0 lead.

He managed to maintain that lead to win the tie-break convincingly. Both players went around their backhands quite often in the match to hit the ball with their formidable forehands. However, Rublev managed to really improve his serve during the latter stages of the first set, hitting three aces in the 12th game.

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#2. Andrey Rublev hit winners one after another from the ad court to race through the second set

There were a lot of crosscourt exchanges between the two players in the match, with Casper Ruud often playing his shots higher and slower. That gave Andrey Rublev enough time to go around his backhand and hit winners with his inside-in forehand. On a few other occasions, the Russian hit down-the-line winners off his backhand from the ad court.

There were also a few stupendous volley and drop shot winners from the Russian, who broke Ruud thrice in the second set. He had to save a couple of break points in the fifth game himself, but was able to serve a bagel to the Norwegian, who continued to struggle in the set.

Ruud fared better than Rublev with his second serve, but was able to win only 57% of the points in his first serve, while the Russian managed 80%. He was the deserving winner overall and should cherish that victory for long.